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Connor McDavid has been busy working on his game this off-season as he enters his third year.

McDavid captured the Hart Trophy, Art Ross Trophy and Ted Lindsay Award in just his second NHL season, but he wants to improve in some areas. "You definitely want to keep your game well-rounded, but there are areas you can get better at and shot for me is the first objective," he said. "And then it's rounding out your game. Being solid in your own zone, being a good faceoff guy, those are things that are all important as you go deep in the playoffs." He potted 30 goals on 251 shots last season.

He has a 43.3 percent success rate on faceoffs during his six-year career and the closest he has made it to the 50-percent mark came in 2014-15 when he won 46.0 percent. Nugent-Hopkins' struggles in the circles and his troubles offensively could result in the Oilers looking for help at center. "Nuge is a tremendous player, a detail player. There's more offense to him and that'll be the message we deliver to him," said coach Todd McLellan. He recorded 18 goals and 43 points in the regular season followed by no goals and four assists in the playoffs.

Drake Caggiula could find himself on Connor McDavid's line next season.

The Oilers are considering moving Leon Draisaitl to the second line as a center and if so, Caggiula may have a spot on McDavid's wing. "He's obviously a world-class player; it's lots of fun to play with a guy with that much speed who makes plays all over the ice. I guess the coaches had trust and faith in me," said Caggiula. "Whatever position they want me to play I will, but I’m most comfortable on left wing. It was my home for four years at school and for most of this season. I’ll come to camp this fall and prove I can play high up in the lineup. I'll stay hungry." If that is the case, then Caggiula deserves to be drafted in the middle rounds of most pools.

Mark Letestu has racked up eight points in six games in Round 2 against Anaheim.

He had two goals and two assists in Sunday's 7-1 blowout victory. Letestu has been especially dangerous on Edmonton's power play, where he has accounted for six points, including three goals, in the series. "When we put him on the power play back in October or November, we didn't have a triggerman. We knew in the past he could. He finds open spaces," said coach Todd McLellan.

Milan Lucic has aspirations of one day becoming a general manager after his playing career ends.

"I definitely love everything that goes into putting a team together," said Lucic. "It’s something that you think about. I would definitely love to get back into the management side of things one day. I’ve been in the league for 10 years now and I’ve seen how things progress and how things happen. You see talent. You see moves. Sometimes you scratch your head." Lucic only recently celebrated his 29th birthday and has six seasons left on his existing contract, so his playing career isn't anywhere close to finish. Still it sounds like we might continue to hear from him frequently even after he hangs up his skates.

Maroon registered two assists in the Oilers' 4-3 overtime loss to Anaheim in Game 4 on Wednesday. That gives him three goals and seven points in 10 playoff games. Six of those seven points have come in the second round series.

Jussi Jokinen, who signed with the Oilers on Friday, is very familiar with Oilers top prospect Jesse Puljujarvi.

Jokinen is a part owner of the Finnish league squad Karpat, which Puljujarvi played for before making the transition to North American hockey. "I’ve been practising with Jesse for three years in the summer. I know all about him, his potential. He’s still a young guy, learning how to be an NHL player. Hopefully, I’ll be able to help him," said Jokinen. There's a decent chance that Puljujarvi will find his way onto the Oilers' opening game roster and it's even possible that the two will begin the season on a line together.

GM Peter Chiarelli is looking for Anton Slepyshev to take his game to the next level.

Chiarelli was impressed with Slepyshev during the playoffs and if he sees time alongside Connor McDavid like he did in the postseason, he will be a valued fantasy selection next year. He could be a 50-point performer if he plays regularly as a top-six forward, but that isn't a guarantee going into 2017-18. Slepyshev had only four goals and 10 points in 41 games this past season.

Jujhar Khaira has inked a two-year, $1.35 million extension with the Edmonton Oilers.

Khaira had a goal in 10 games with Edmonton in 2016-17. He also had eight goals and 20 points in 27 AHL contests. He was scheduled to become a restricted free agent after completing his entry-level contract.

That works out to an annual average value of $8.5 million. Draisaitl put up solid numbers in 2015-16 (19 goals, 51 points in 72 games), but he really came into his own last season, as he was second on the Oilers with 29 goals and 77 points in 82 games. The 21-year-old has quickly emerged as one of the best young centers in the NHL, and the Oilers have shown their commitment to him with this huge contract. Draisaitl will carry the biggest cap hit on Edmonton's roster next year, but he'll be passed by Connor McDavid's $12.5 million cap hit two years from now. After McDavid, he's the most dangerous forward on the team.

Ryan Strome is looking forward to getting a fresh start with the Oilers.

He recorded just 13 goals and 30 points in 69 matches with the Islanders last year. "With so many ups and downs in my career, I think I've definitely learned to handle adversity pretty well," Strome said. "I've had a lot thrown at me and I've gone through some stuff. I definitely don't feel like too much of a rookie anymore, it's funny how fast time flies. But being traded now, it's a good opportunity, and people are excited to have me and it's going to be good. It's nothing but optimism from my end." Edmonton intends to take advantage of Strome's versatility by playing him up and down the lineup, but it's probable that he will get a chance to play on the right side with Connor McDavid or Leon Draisaitl.

The Edmonton Oilers have loaned Jesse Puljujarvi to Team Finland for the 2017 World Championships.

Puljujarvi had a goal and eight points in 28 regular season games with Edmonton. At the AHL level he scored 12 goals and 28 points in 39 contests. The Worlds is a great opportunity for the 18-year-old to gain some addition experience against elite players.

The Edmonton Oilers signed Iiro Pakarinen to a one-year, one-way deal worth $725,000.

Pakarinen was scheduled to become a restricted free agent on July 1st. The 25-year-old had two goals and two assists in 14 games with the Oilers in 2016-17. He also suited up in one game during the postseason. Don't expect him to have any fantasy value next season.

The Edmonton Oilers have signed winger Ty Rattie to a one-year/two-way contract.

Rattie will get $700,000 in the NHL and $225,000 in the minors. He was not given a qualifying offer by the Blues and the 32nd overall pick by St. Louis in 2011 is now an Oiler. He has only four goals and 10 points in 35 NHL games and hopes to turn his career around in Edmonton.

GM Peter Chiarelli believes the procedure will happen on Thursday. In the best-case scenario, Sekera could be back in mid-November. A more conservative outlook on his recovery from knee surgery might be around Christmas. Regardless of when Sekera returns it will probably be a while before he gets back to 100 percent. He suffered a torn ACL in the playoffs and his initial timetable is set for six-to-nine months.

Oscar Klefbom will likely be leaned on heavily at the start of the 2017-18 season due to an injury to Andrej Sekera.

Klefbom proved he was up to the challenge last year when he logged a team-high 22:22 of ice time per game. He also topped all Oilers defensemen with 12 goals and 38 points in 82 contests. Klefbom will probably be paired with Adam Larsson again because the duo had plenty of chemistry last year.

Larsson was leaned on so heavily because defenseman Andrej Sekera was hurt in the first period and didn't return. Larsson also registered an assist, giving him five points in 11 contests in the 2017 playoffs.

The Edmonton Oilers and Kris Russell have agreed to a four-year, $16 million contract extension.

That follows a report Thursday night that Russell and the Oilers were close to inking a trade that was for exactly that length and financial term. The report also suggested that he'd get a full no-movement clause, so we'll see if that part proves to be accurate as well. Russell's deal is a bit of a controversial one as he looks pretty bad from a Corsi/Fenwick perspective and hasn't brought much to the table offensively over the last two seasons. He does block a lot of shots though and averaged 21:13 minutes per game with Edmonton in 2016-17.

Matthew Benning is projected to shift to the second pairing with Kris Russell for Game 6 on Sunday.

Edmonton is being forced to alter its defense because Andrej Sekera (undisclosed) is done for the second round series. Benning has been averaging just 16:05 minutes per game in the playoffs, but his workload could increase on Sunday.

Cam Talbot stopped 28 of 30 shots in a 2-1 loss to Anaheim in Game 7 Wednesday night.

While that has to be a disappointing loss for the Oilers at the moment, it does bring a very promising campaign to its conclusion. Edmonton finished the 2015-16 campaign with just 70 points and hadn't made the playoffs since 2006, so the fact that the Oilers not only made it to the postseason, but battled to Game 7 of the second round is a big leap forward. Talbot deserves a lot of credit for Edmonton's improvement this season. He was a workhorse during the 2016-17 campaign and while he wasn't the league's top goaltender in the playoffs by any stretch of the imagination, he did steal some games for Edmonton during the postseason. The Oilers are a promising team going into the 2017-18 campaign.